#drawn to the dark

[all-for-geek]

Drawn to the Dark: A Nightmare to Remember Chapter 9: Vivid Hallucinations

Chapter 8

Chapter 10

Fandom: Escape the Night

Summary: The guests are so close to freedom. Will they escape, or will the madness consume them?

Warnings: Electrocution and Stabbing

Word Count: 3,568

The five remaining guests sat in the dining room, searching in vain for the motivation to keep moving. They only had two more owners to free. Which meant two more deadly challenges awaited them. Any animosity between the guests was either dead, buried, or both. They could barely stomach the thought of one of them dying. It took every shred of Oli’s willpower to open the journal and begin reading.

“Vincent Wells is a madman,” Oli began, “He sees impossible, horrifying things.”

“Sound like anyone else we know?” Joey commented. Selena glared. Perhaps there was one more person she could stomach dying.

Oli ignored him and continued. “He would stare endlessly at lightbulbs. I never knew what he saw, but it seemed like he was trying to burn holes into his eyes. His sanity may be gone, but his heart is good. He hid something in the dining room, but I was never able to find it.”

With their new task in hand, the five got up from the table and began to look around. It didn’t take long for Oli to find a box locked with a number lock, each number being matched with a color.

“The journal said that he liked to stare at the lightbulbs,” Eva pondered, “Maybe there is a clue in one.”

They continued their search around the room this time focusing on the many, many different sources of light. Selena wandered next door into the study and noticed something odd. Hadn’t that light been on the last time they were here?

She unscrewed the bulb and, sure enough, on the bottom was a number written in one of the colors on the lock. At the same time, the others found other lightbulbs with their own color and number. The guests huddled back around the box. As it opened with a click, Joey pulled out a key to a room on the second floor.

They made their way upstairs unsure of what they would find. None of them had encountered a “madman” before. Selena tried to repress the images her brain was cooking up. They weren’t going to help even if they were true.

They entered the room on the second floor and were met with an empty bed. The room was neat and tidy as if awaiting its next guest. It didn’t look like anyone lived there let alone a madman. 

They then turned to find a man in a straight jacket standing in the corner. The sight alone was enough to get LeLe to try and leave the room. He continued to face the corner as if he was unbothered by their presence. Or perhaps he was unaware of their presence.

“Hello?” Oli said.

Vincent slowly turned around to face them, but his eyes stared at something a thousand miles away.

“Vincent?” Selena tried.

The man blinked and saw the five people for the first time. His body clenched in fear.

“How are you?” he asked. “How long have you been there? Did the doctor send you? Please I promise I told him everything I know I-”

“No, no, no,” LeLe reassured, “We’re not from the doctor.”

“We’re here to help you,” Eva added.

Vincent scans them frantically until his eyes land on Selena. Whatever he saw, it seemed to calm him down enough to have a conversation.

“The house seems inviting at first,” he started, “It feels warm and safe. Like the home you never had. A place where all the things you’ve seen won’t matter, but then it catches you, and it never lets you go. It has me trapped in this jacket so that I may never escape.” 

Vincent tugs on the jacket restricting his movement. He began to mutter to himself. The guests couldn’t quite make out what he said, but he twisted and turned back and forth as if he was two people having one conversation. An urgent one.

Vincent turned back to the group. “You need to find the three keys to the straight jacket to free me. They are hidden deep in my darkest hallucinations. Out on the landing, there is an inkblot that will show you how to get there. Hurry!”

The group did not hesitate in taking his advice. They hastily made their way out of the room. All except for one.

“Selena,” Vincent called out.

Selena stopped at the doorway and faced him. “How do you know my name?”

“Be careful, Selena,” he continued, “Those like us, those drawn to the dark but born in the light, we are not destined for pleasant lives.”

“What are you tal-” Selena’s question was interrupted by Vincent's ear-piercing scream. She silently left the room. He was in no condition to answer her questions.

The others were gathered around a table by the stairs staring at a piece of paper covered in the black splotches. As she gets closer, she sees that underneath the splotches are a map of the manor and its grounds. Two marks indicated places outside the manor.

“What did he want?” Oli asked.

“I hope I never find out,” Selena muttered.

The group went back downstairs and out the door to the house. Selena felt a shiver run up her spine as she crossed the threshold. 

The guests find themselves at the greenhouse. The dense, humid air inside clung to their skin just as it did the plants. They quickly began to search around for anything that could be hiding a key or a clue. There was a clipboard sitting on the lip of one of the planters, but it was just a series of diagrams showing plant classifications.

Joey reached into the dirt to look underneath a nearby rock. As his fingers slipped through two eye sockets, he realized what it actually was. He yelped and quickly dropped the skull.

Over on the other side of the greenhouse, Oli and Selena spot a leather-bound journal sitting by a stool. As Oli goes to pick it, Selena's eyes are drawn to the paper-thin walls. There was not much light inside, but there was enough to see. And enough to illuminate the lumbering shadow getting larger.

“Look out!” she shouts as she pulls Oli away from the wall. A second later, a decaying husk of a man’s arm smashes through the wall and swipes at the spot where Oli used to be. The zombie growled at them as it tried in vain to catch its prey.

“Thanks,” he whispered. Selena nodded.

The group gathered in the center as Oli read the journal. It was of a scientist working to combine plant and animal matter into some kind of swamp man. His first attempt failed, resulting in a mindless creature only desiring destruction. The zombie outside groaned louder.

He had managed to perfect his formula by burying the body parts in specific dirt and then combining it with the plants. The guests once again ran around the greenhouse, searching for the right plants and all the body parts that they needed. None of them were sure if it was a good idea. They had no idea if this swamp man creature would help, try to kill them, or what, but it was the closest thing to a clue they had. 

It took a minute to find all the body parts, mostly because nobody wanted to touch them. LeLe ended up searching for them the most while everyone else focused on finding the right plants. They weren’t sure how much they needed, so they just kept piling everything onto a nearby compost pile until a massive creature bursted out of it. 

The guests didn’t think twice before they started running. The Swamp Man followed them out of the greenhouse. They had made it onto the path before they noticed the sounds of a struggle. They turned back towards the greenhouse to see the zombie fighting the Swamp Man. Well, fighting was a kind way of putting it. The zombie was no match against the Swamp Man’s sheer size and strength. It didn’t take long before the zombie was on the ground, and the Swamp Man was carrying its body off to who knows where. 

The guests erupted in cheer. It was a rare moment of victory for them that night. Joey noticed something gleaming on the ground near where the fight had broken out and led them back into the grass. Sure enough, there was a key lying where the zombie had once been.

They pulled back out the map and followed it to the next hallucination. The field around them morphed and grew into a forested clearing covered in rocks and trees. In the darkness, many trees bulged in the center as the guests found themselves staring into masks of many different shapes and sizes. 

They paused near the center of the clearing where a woman was standing in a circle of rocks covered by more masks. Her own face was concealed with a fencing mask. She simply stood there, giving no indication of if she had any idea they were there, but none of them wanted to test it given she was holding a katana in her hand. 

A plaque was carved into the trees giving them their instructions. They had to find 5 specific masks by solving 5 riddles. Finding the right mask will reveal the next riddle. If they pick the wrong one, the woman will attack them. There was a pile of burlap sacks in a pile next to the tree that kept them protected from the woman and basically acted as an extra life. 

The first riddle was ‘the demon that is dreaming’. The guests spread out around the clearing. None of them were quite sure what the riddle meant by dreaming. LeLe suggested a very colorful mask. Eva seemed drawn to one that she insisted looked like the moon. They kept going back and forth between that one and a black one Joey had found. With the same accuracy as a coin toss, they tried Joey’s. Unfortunately, they chose tails.

“Shit,” Joey whispered as the woman approached them.

They quickly pulled the burlap sack over their heads. Selena closed her eyes, not that she could anything through the sack if they were open. She could hear the footsteps of the woman getting closer, and prayed to whatever would listen that she wasn’t picked.

The cold night air flew into Selena’s face. She sighed as she opened her eyes, revealing what she already knew. The woman was standing back where she had been before with Selena’s sack at her feet.

“Great,” Selena muttered to herself. She yanked the mask that Eva was suggesting of the tree. It was the right one.

“Music plays, the dancer grows, spot me with a liar’s nose,” she read off the inside of the mask.

Luckily this one was easier to spot. A mask covered in music notes with a long, pointed nose was laying on a nearby rock. As they picked it up, LeLe grabbed Selena’s arm.

“Hey, look I’m gonna be nice for the first time tonight,” she said, extending her own bag out for Selena.

“Thanks, but you keep it.” It was a nice gesture, but whoever got taken at this stage didn’t really matter. They only seemed to be in actual danger at the voting challenges.

“Okay,” LeLe shrugged. She walked over to the rest of the group.

Forged in hate, I am the vessel of your nightmares. The protector of your fears. That was the next riddle. Selena spotted a mask blending in with the rocks on the other side of the clearing. It was gray, and rough, and almost resembled armored plating. She turned it over to find the next riddle. 

As you burn in the depths of hell, demons will spread your ashes. Charming. The guests searched the clearing, once again reaching a 50/50 split on which mask they thought it was. Selena swallowed. She volunteered to choose the mask. At least that way, whatever happened, she had no one to blame for herself.

Selena stared at the smooth, blank interior of the mask. She groaned as the woman approached her again. She didn’t know what was going to happen now, but she didn’t like the way the katana gleamed in the moonlight. 

The woman pierced Selena in her stomach. For a brief moment, Selena felt hot, scorching pain. Then, she felt nothing.

She was floating. Or was she standing? She walked around the darkness as if she was walking through a room, but she couldn’t feel anything underneath her. 

Selena instinctively reached for where she had been stabbed. Nothing. Not even a cut in the fabric. She sighed. It was just a hallucination, but everything felt so real. Is this how Vincent felt?

Something shifted in the darkness. Selena felt it more than she saw it. A presence that dwarfed her own, nearly suffocating her with its power. The darkness swirled and undulated like waves in the ocean.

“Hello, Selena,” a deep, old voice said, “I have been waiting to see you for a very long time.”

Selena could barely open her mouth to speak. Her mouth was dry as she tried to form words. 

“W-who are you?” she finally asked. “How do you know who I am?”

The voice chuckled. “All in good time, little albatross. I have great plans for you.”

Selena felt the wind get knocked out of her as she fell onto solid ground. She fell to her knees, touching the grass as if it were made of gold. Selena never wanted to think about that creature ever again, even as it consumed more and more of her mind.

Selena heard a shot come from her right. She turned to see LeLe standing in front of her. Her eyes were wide, but LeLe quickly regained her composure.

“Selena, oh my god!” she shouted. “We finished the riddles, but the last one was for that chick’s masks, and we got it, but she started chasing us, and-”

LeLe was cut off by the shouts of the other guests echoing across the yard. LeLe ran to meet with them with Selena not far behind. Selena couldn’t help but wonder if LeLe saw the darkness like she had.

The two ran back into the lounge to find the others standing in the middle of the room, out of breath but none the worse for wear. Oli ran over to Selena and put his hands on her shoulders protectively as he scanned her body.

“Are you okay?” he asked. 

“I’m not any worse,” Selena answered. She didn’t want to mention the creature living in the dark. She never wanted to even think about it again. “I’ll take that as a win.”

Oli nodded and turned back towards Joey and Eva. Eva held the fencing mask the woman in the clearing had been wearing in her hands. She fiddled with the inside as a key and a note fell out of the netting. 

The note explained that the final key was found in Vincent’s most vivid hallucination. Unlike the others, this one would have deadly consequences. It would require a vote, and challengers would need to pick a partner of the opposite gender. The guests sighed. They knew this was inevitable, but it didn’t make it any easier.

“Guys, I don’t want to vote for anyone,” Joey said, “I don’t want to see anyone left die.”

“Yeah,” LeLe agreed. “I mean, at this point, I would probably rather vote for myself.”

They looked at each other. There was an idea. It would mean that they all had an equal chance of being in the challenge, of dying, but at least their consciences would be clean.

Each guest walked up and placed their own name into Arthur’s hat. As he shuffled the names, everyone clasped their hands together. 

“Selena,” Arthur announced. She barely registered Oli squeezing her hand in comfort. 

“And LeLe. Selena, since your name was drawn first, you will choose your partner first.”

“Oli,” she answered immediately. Even if it hadn’t been for the odd rules of the challenge, it would have been her choice. There was no one in that house that she trusted more.

LeLe tried to hide the face she was making as Joey squeezed her shoulder. Selena registered that by picking Oli, she had left LeLe with Joey. She didn’t know whether to feel optimistic about her chances or devastated at her friend’s.

The guests journey down into the basement, hopefully for the last time. LeLe and Eva held each other closely as they descended. They remembered what happened the last time they were down there. That first challenge seemed so long ago yet was rushing back at the same time.

They were not the only ones with sour memories. Selena walked the same steps she had descended in that horrible nightmare she had when this whole mess started. She knew now that it was more than a nightmare. It had to be. She steeled herself for what was going to happen at the bottom of the stairs. 

The ungodly machine was no longer in the basement. As the walls flickered and changed, two wooden chairs came into view. Wires and electrical lines were connected to the restraints of the arms of the chairs. Selena’s heart stopped. 

Selena and LeLe were to be hooked up to the electric chairs. Oli and Joey were going to have to play a game of demented ring toss to determine which one would make it out of the room alive. Each failed throw would result in another shock.

Eva helped Selena and LeLe get into their chairs. She made sure that the restraints were only as tight as they needed to be. There was a helplessness in her eyes that filled Selena with so much rage. None of them deserved this.

Oli and Joey lined themselves up to begin. The shocks probably weren’t going to be too bad, right? Selena rememberd getting shocked by the electrical sockets in her house once or twice as a child. It was more uncomfortable than-

She was wrong. She was so so so wrong. The first jolt of electricity sent her whole spine on edge. A scream escaped her lips of its own accord. LeLe responded in kind. 

More and more rings were thrown, and more and more rings missed. The pulsing white pain seared through Selena’s entire body. She relished the brief reprieves when Oli got a ring to land properly. Or maybe he was just grabbing more rings. She couldn’t tell. All she was aware of was the pain.

This was it. She was going to die. Selena could taste the blood in her mouth mixing with the tears rushing down her face. It hurt so much. Selena’s body twitched uncontrollably. A loud scream pierced the night.

Selena’s heart continued to pound even as the shocks stopped. The restraints were thrown off her wrists, and someone gently grabbed her shoulders. Selena picked up a voice calling her name through all the ringing. Slowly, her vision returned, and she was face to face with Oli. His concern immediately melted into relief. 

“Can you walk?” he asked.

She saw LeLe’s limp body sitting next to her out of the corner of her eye. The air stung with the smell of burnt flesh. She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

Selena stood slowly and shakily. Her legs begged for rest, crumbling like jelly more than once. She had to rely on Oli to get up the stairs, but it didn’t matter. She refused to spend one more godforsaken moment in that basement.

The four returned to Vincent’s room, keys in hand. The madman was still standing in the same corner. It was unclear if he had even moved since they left.

“Vincent, we have the keys,” Joey announced.

Vincent’s eyes grew wide. “Don’t tease me,” he pleaded. Still, he turned around in the vain hope that he would receive his freedom.

Once all the keys were unlocked, Vincent shook the straight jacket off and threw it on the ground. He moved his arms slowly, working out the years-long stiffness that resided within. He turned back to them with a clarity in his eyes that had not been there before.

“Thank you,” he whispered. He walked over to Selena and gently placed something in her hand. “I have seen glimpses of your path, and I’m afraid that there is farther down the tunnel to go. Hopefully, this will do you more good than it did me.”

Selena felt the cold circular metal in her hand. The engravings on the outside were thin and intricate. She felt the button to the watch, but Vincent stopped her hand before she could open it, giving her a knowing smile. He then looked up, passed Selena, and his eyes hardened.

“I tried to warn you,” Vincent started. “I tried to warn you. The owner of this house is a monster!”

The guests gasped. Oli, Eva, and Selena turn to Joey, fearing that all their suspicions had been confirmed. But only Joey was following Vincent’s line of sight to the glaring butler standing behind them. 

Arthur stomped forward, towering over Vincent. “That’s enough!” he shouted.

“You don’t control me anymore,” Vincent remarked with a smirk. He turned his attention back to guests. “If I were you, I’d run.”

They didn’t need to be told twice.

[ancientsstudies]

brfantasme.

[9474s0ul]

love me some fan made mobian Metal Sonics @artkotaro (these two belong to them!!)

[sinizade]

Izveta and Orin

Well, it doesn't say precisely during the game when Durge arrived the Bhaal temple, how long they stayed and when they were betrayed by Orin, but my HC is that my Durge started attending the temple before Orin was born and met Gortash during Orin's childhood, when she started her plans with the Banite, and during Orin's adulthood the plan was already underway and Orin was already planning her betrayal.

[bellandeano]

so like. how many gentle touches do you think they've actually felt in their lives haha

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Swapping tips on how to be a bestie in the bath.

[lilybug-02]

New friend acquired!

Bug Fact: Colombian Lesserblack Tarantulas have pet frogs! The frog protects the spider's eggs from ants and in return, the frog is kept safe by the spider.

First || Prev

[leavingautumn13]

i don't have anything to say about this one except "i'm sorry."

[reference]

[obligatory "i have commissions open now" link]

[hascious]

more sammy birthday art god forbid he have a good day at the studio

[all-for-geek]

Drawn to the Dark: A Nightmare to Remember Chapter 8: All Out War

Chapter 7

Chapter 9

Fandom: Escape the Night

Summary: As dawn draws nearer, the group continues their mission to free the owners. Time shifts around them as alliances are forged.

Warnings: Depictions of war, violence, and gun fights

Word Count: 2,462

The remaining guests huddled around a couch in the lounge. Joey was at the center of them, reading about the next owner in the journal: a World War I veteran named Colin. Colin bought the house with stolen German gold, but it drove him mad, and he won’t leave until all his gold is found. Some of it was hidden in a lockbox nearby, but Colin protected the gold with a series of riddles. The group groaned.

“Why does everyone in the 1920s love riddles so much?!” Tim exclaimed. Joey nodded in agreement before continuing. The answers to the riddles would match the numbers for the lock.

It didn’t take long for them to find the lockbox stashed underneath the desk in the corner. The tricky part was finding the riddles to unlock it. They searched all over the lounge until they felt like they had searched the entire ground floor. It was Eva and Selena who eventually found it in the last room they checked: the study.

Selena squinted as she tried to read the chicken scratch on the notepad. “Drop me from the highest building, and I’ll survive, but drop me from the lowest boat and I won’t.”

“A feather, maybe?” Eva suggested.

“Or paper, because-” 

“We’ll just try both,” LeLe shouted, cutting Tim off.

Tim tilted his head at LeLe. “Chill, girl…”

Selena kept reading the next riddle. They really didn’t have time for any more drama. “What is so delicate that even mentioning it breaks it?”

“A blanket, maybe?” Joey suggested. The rest of the group turned to look at him, dumbfounded. Thankfully, before everyone went into a tirade about the dumbest suggestion of the night, Joey came to the realization for them. “But you don’t really break a blanket do you…”

“Silence,” Eva said, “The answer is silence.”

“Right,” Selena continued, shaking that off, “If you give me food, I live. If you give me water, I will die.”

The group stared at each other, in deep thought.

“Fire!” LeLe finally shouted. 

They quickly counted the letters in the answers. Tim wasn’t fighting the smug expression on his face when paper was the right answer for the lock. 

Inside the chest was a single gold bar along with a note. It was a letter from Colin to his dad. He had been helping the other soldiers who were dealing with PTSD, although he didn’t have the word for it yet. He had been stuck on the top floor of the estate ever since they got back, so that is where they went.

No one was quite sure what to expect from Colin. Selena couldn’t help but picture a Gollum-esque creature crouching in the shadows whispering about its precious gold. It wasn’t the most realistic image, but reality got thrown out when the mermaid showed up.

  The one thing she didn’t expect was the young soldier pointing a gun at them as they rounded the top stair. The whole group started shouting and backing into the wall behind them. Even as his eyes flared at the sight of the gold bar, Colin’s hand never twitched.

“Who are you?” He demanded. “Have you come to steal my gold?”

“No, NO,” Selena insisted. She took a careful step towards the man. “Just lower the gun, and we’ll give the gold back to you.”

“I’m gonna lower this now.” Colin holstered his gun and immediately stretched his hand out for the gold. Tim slowly handed it to him. Colin snatched it from Tim’s hand and stared down at the gold.

“He is so hot…” Selena caught Eva whispering to LeLe in the back. LeLe wasn’t any better, practically drooling.

“Look, can you help us get out of here?” Joey asked, rolling his eyes at the two women.

Colin snapped out of his trance at the question. “Yeah, I can help you, but I’ll need my gear.” Colin grabbed an army jacket hanging from a nearby hook and slung it on as he marched ahead of them down the stairs. 

“Wait for me,” LeLe cried as she and Eva pushed themselves to the front. Oli and Selena caught a glance at each other before rolling their eyes again. 

“My captain probably thinks that I’ve gone AWOL,” Colin explained, ignoring the two women trailing behind him. “I’ll need to report back on the two-way radio out front. Stay behind me.”

Selena was confused. Didn’t Colin fight in World War I? They were supposedly in the 1920s. To the house, that apparently didn’t matter as gunfire rang out through the yard. The shouts of soldiers fighting and dying could be heard all around them. One came running towards them before Colin shot him down. They had waltzed into an active warzone. 

Luckily, the radio was a few feet away on the porch. The guests turned it on while Colin stood watch and covered them.

“Where the hell have you been, soldier?” a voice barked from the radio. “Some sensitive documents have fallen into enemy hands. They are being guarded by a sniper on the other side of the house. Get over there, take him out, and get those documents!”

“Wait, what,” Eva cried out. “I can’t take anyone out! I’m a Youtuber! I spend of my day sitting at a computer, I can’t-”

Her existential crisis had to be cut short as Colin made his way into enemy territory, forcing the others to follow. They crept along in the tree line for cover. Occasionally, Colin would take shots that were followed by distant screams.

They reached an open clearing that they had no choice but to cross. The light from the house shone down on them like the sun on a barrel of fish. The guests were barely half-way across the clearing when the gun fire started. Everybody ran except for Tim who threw himself on the ground as flat as he could. By some miracle, he managed to not get shot and rejoined the guests when the soldiers had to reload.

Colin stopped the guests behind some bushes looking out at a tower jutting from the corner of the house. Up in the window, the shadow of a sniper was barely visible. 

“It’s time to move in,” Colin stated. “Here.”

Eva froze as a grenade was thrusted into her hand.

“Wait, no, I can’t do this. I’m not trained to fight in a war! I’m not- AAHHH!” 

Eva’s protest was cut short as Colin pulled the pin on the grenade. The whole group cried in disbelief as Eva started running towards the open window at the bottom of the tower. The sniper tried to shoot her, but the angle was too low to get a shot. Eva chucked the grenade into the window. Her arms flailed as she ran away from the now smoldering tower.

The guests ran to inspect the rubble. Selena ran over to Eva. She started to ask if Eva was alright, but she could see how hard Eva was shaking. She tried to think of something to say, but there was nothing that could make this night seem better or even manageable. She took Eva’s hands in hers. She began taking deep, slow breaths and Eva, though they were wheezy, tried to replicate her. The two stood there until Eva’s breaths were in sync with Selena’s. Selena gently squeezed Eva’s hands before returning to the others.

It was a sight to see. Joey was waving a lighter over a metal briefcase with reckless abandon while Colin was leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette. LeLe and Oli looked at their wits end while Tim just tried not to touch the fire since he was the one holding the briefcase.

“What is he doing?” Eva asked Oli. 

“The briefcase says to burn before reading,” Oli explained, “Joey seems to think that that lighter will burn the suitcase, and the smoke will reveal a clue.”

“Like in Harry Potter?” Selena asked dumbfounded.

“Thank you!” Oli shouted with an exasperated sigh. 

Selena walked over and examined the briefcase. She ran fingers along the edge until she noticed something.

“Hey, wait, try turning this bit,” Selena pointed to a black strip on the briefcase. Joey put the light above it, and the strip melted to reveal numbers. 

Inside the briefcase were documents detailing Operation Heatwave: an experiment to create supersoldiers. Unfortunately, one of the subjects broke out and killed the doctor. They now had to retrieve the doctor’s research.

Colin cocked his gun and led them to the lab. Joey, Oli, and Selena entered as Colin did one last sweep on the outside. Unfortunately, as soon as the three entered, the door swung shut behind them. A large, unnaturally muscled man yelled, scaring them to the table on the opposite side of the room. Luckily, the man seemed to be chained to the wall. Unluckily, the chains didn’t look like they would hold him for long. They could hear the others yelling and trying to open the door, but it was stuck. They were on their own.

The three quickly started scanning documents while trying to block out the wails of the muscle man. There was a serum that would incapacitate the subject if they could find the ingredients. As Selena searched she began humming. It was a pitchy rendition of the lullaby her mother would sing to her. She didn’t even realize that she had started humming it. She did notice when the subject stopped shouting.

He was staring straight at Selena. He was just standing there, staring, his eyes glazed over. Oli looked up to see the display and turned to Joey whose eyes were starting to glaze as well. He quickly shook Joey’s shoulder, and the man came back to his senses as Selena stopped humming.

“What was that?” Joey asked.

“I…I don’t know. I was just-” Selena was cut off as the subject broke out his own trance and began shouting again. 

“Whatever it is, just keep doing it!” Oli shouted.

Selena nodded and turned back to the subject. She sang the lullaby in full, quietly at first, and then louder as the subject returned to his dazed state. Joey and Oli quickly found the vials and filled up the syringe on the table. Joey cautiously moved towards the subject and injected the serum into his next. He crumpled to the ground unconscious.

Behind him was a giant metal box. Selena and Joey grabbed it as Oli managed to wrench the door open.

The two dropped the box down on the grass as the rest of the guests ran back to them. Eva ran to Selena and looked at her quizzically. Selena was still catching her breath from the adrenaline still coursing through her system, but she managed to muster the energy to give a thumbs up. 

A loud clang resounded behind them. LeLe, the fire in her eyes burning brighter than ever, was banging on the box with a nearby shovel. It only took her a couple whacks for the box to fling open. Inside the box was a key and instructions for the inevitable. Two of them were going into battle. Take a wild guess how they were going to be chosen.

The guests made their way back inside the manor, the gunshots fading into the night. Almost out of instinct, Selena, Eva, and LeLe grouped together on one side of the room while Joey, Tim, and Oli did so on the other.

“So who are you thinking?” LeLe asked the other two.

“I’ll be honest, Tim has been kinda sketchy this whole night,” Eva pointed out. Selena found herself nodding along. There were very few people that Selena could in good conscience vote for. The only two left were Joey and Tim. A grim thought crossed her mind.

“Eva, you realize that you’re the only one here who hasn’t been voted in, right?” Selena mentioned. Eva looked confused for a moment before the reality of the statement dawned on her.

“I’m going to see what the guys are thinking,” LeLe said. As she stood up and walked over, Oli sat down and took her place. 

“Look, I’m going to be straight with you,” Oli said, looking directly at Eva, “Joey wants to vote you in.”

Eva put her head in her hands. Selena felt something boiling red bubbling inside of her.

“He’s been suspicious all night,” Oli added in a hushed tone. “He’s the one who invited us here. This is his house. Who's to say that he’s not in on it all?”

“I don’t know,” Selena pondered, “I think he’s more of a pawn if anything.”

“What makes you say that?” Eva asked.

Selena shrugged. “It’s more of a feeling, I guess.”

“It’s time,” Arthur announced, abruptly cutting off the conversation. The air changed as the voting began. They all felt it, but Joey was the one to put words to it.

“Guys, I feel bad about all of this,” he lamented, “No one here deserves to go through all of this.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have invited us here, then,” Oli replied.

“I didn’t-” Joey shouted before cutting himself off. He continued softly, “I didn’t know that any of this would happen.”

The nagging feeling that Selena had towards Joey yanked again. The house had chosen the two of them for this night. They had parts to play, but she didn’t know what Joey’s was yet. She didn’t even know what her own was. She just knew that she didn’t like it. Still, it was enough to convince her to write down Tim’s name instead of Joey’s.

Arthur shuffled the names in his hat. “Eva,” he announced. Selena squeezed Eva’s tense shoulder. “And Tim.”

“Son of a Bitch,” Tim cried out. The two followed Arthur back outside. 

Selena, Joey, Oli, and LeLe sat at the lounge. Nobody spoke. They had nothing left to say. They could continue to point fingers at each other, but that wasn’t going to get them out of the house. If they wanted a chance of getting out of the house, they couldn’t afford being at each other's throats. It wasn’t like it helped them any before.

The backyard doors swung open to reveal Eva. She ran past them to the shelf housing all the artifacts and the others followed. Eva was clinging onto the shelf like her life depended on it. Her whole body shook as she struggled to find a breath. 

“I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” she said, not turning around to face the others.

Oli placed a hand on her shoulder. “We just have two more owners. Then, it’s all over.”

The mantra repeated in all their heads. It was the anchor keeping them from going completely mad.

Two more…just two more…

[ancientsstudies]

Arthur Rackham’s Illustrations for the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales.

[zu-is-here]

Key

[sinizade]

Izveta Noquar

Class: Rogue

Dark Urge (Evil but "redeemed")

Romance: Astarion (Ascended)

Besties: Why does she need friends if she has her own company? (Shadowheart is her bestie)

Being the youngest adopted daughter of the prestigious Noquar family in Menzoberranzan, Izveta was able to surpass the matriarch's biological daughters in any aspect, battles or manipulations. The drow had a natural talent for killing ever since she first held a weapon, the family's only concern about the girl was her constant conversations with a butler who seemed like only she could see, but often some other drow could see a small shadow next to her, almost as if whispering in her ear.

Her first love was the first person Izveta killed, a handsome young elf with beautiful green eyes almost the same age as her who was given to her as a gift by her mother. The young drow really thought he loved her the way she loved him, but she discovered the hard way that it was all just cruel manipulation for him to try to kill her and escape... What he didn't expect was that it would be a trigger for something cruel and bloodthirsty to awaken in Izveta who hunted him like an animal and slit his throat completely, leaving him unrecognizable...

Izveta ended up finding out from her butler that her sisters planned to kill her to reduce the matriarch's chances of choosing Izveta to replace her as head of the family. The young drow, possessed by anger and a feeling of betrayal, slew her sisters, showing them both to her mother like a trophy, but she didn't react as Izveta expected... The woman who raised her all her life tried to kill her and was once again overcome by hatred, Izveta killed her own mother, afraid of the reaction of the other drow, she fled to the surface where her butler constantly talks about a place she could actually consider a real home, where she would be accepted and loved for who she truly is

Getting used to the surface culture was one of the biggest difficulties for Izveta, not having males to satisfy her whims or soldies to do as she commanded was a reality check. The males on the surface were not as submissive and obedient as those who served her in Menzoberranzan and this ended up involving her in several fights in the places where she managed to stay, but it wasn't long until she finally found that place her butler talked about, her home, The Temple of Bhaal, the Lord of Murder... Her father. She didn't like her father's temple, it wasn't quite what she imagined as she thought it would be something grand like a castle or a fortress, but it fit with the cliche "I am a homicidal God"

Baldur's Gate was truly a lovely city, so full of light and life, Izveta simply loved walking through the dark alleys looking for some clueless person who would follow her wherever she took them, so that was when she met that dark-haired human man who He wasn't looking at her with fear, but curiosity and even perhaps admiration? Izveta didn't know for sure, but receiving that look after so long made her interested in knowing more about this human, knowing more about this "Enver Gortash"

The years after meeting Enver seemed to improve her mood. Izveta might have loved killing, feeling the hot blood on her hands, but she loved even more being pampered, receiving gifts, ordering and having her carpices supplied whenever she wanted and Enver made a point of doing all of this for her, giving some small gifts like rings, necklaces, masks... Izveta LOVES masks. Even though vanity is not something much used either in the Bhaal temple or by his followers, Izveta always loved simply beautifying herself, makeup, big jewelry, hairstyles for her long white hair, she loved spending minutes and even hours just beautifying herself with makeup or the blood of someone she killed. Enver managed to make her see him as an equal, not just an equal, a potential partner both with this strange plan with a "brain" and in bed, he had a thirst in his eyes, a thirst for her and she would quench that thirst every time he begged for her...

For some reason, losing her memories, even if it caused a certain frustration, at the same time caused relief... Being able to recreate her story without memories of the past to worry about

Some may think that Izveta redeemed herself by denying her "family heritage" by denying Bhaal, but her wave of chaos was just beginning. Astarion may think he controls her, that she is his beautiful spawn waiting only to receive orders from her lord, but something he doesn't even suspect is that he is right in the palm of her hand... A little flattery, a few whispers in his ear, a few touches on his chest and he does exactly what she wants and when she wants, he may not feel anything anymore or maybe feel, but the memories of the love he once felt for her are what give her power. Being a Bhaalspawn may have its advantages, but having the control of an ascended vampire lord was much better and as a vampire spawn everything is even more delicious, an eternity delighting in the death of whoever she wants and without any consequences... No There's nothing more she wants

Some extra information about Izveta

She loves white, she loves seeing the white of her clothes stained with blood, she loves seeing how her skin is highlighted while wearing white, she simply loves the color white.

She felt a little sorry for Orin, her little blood kin might be a kinda crazy, but she wasn't a bad person... At least not before her mother tried to kill her.

The only bad thing about denying her "father" was losing Sceleritas... Her butler, her true father... one of the few creatures she truly felt affection for

[smilesrobotlover]

Heh

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

It's all fun and games until...

[Commission for @dontheckinswear]

[twptwp]

Berdly the moment everyone leaves the Librarby